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I was excited since Ain said that she’d teach me how to play with snow, but for some reason, Ain started groaning perplexedly.

『Is there something wrong?』
『No, it’s just that I couldn’t quite think of ones that could be played immediately.』
『So they need a lot of preparation?』
『Yes. A way of playing in snow that I know is skiing, which entails sliding down a hill with two thin planks on your feet, or snowboarding, which is the same but with the use of a single larger plank.
The issue with those is that I don’t know how to make the required equipment. I’ve only done those a few times as well, though, so it’s doubtful if we can actually do it.』
『About s-key-ing and snow-bored-ing, what is it like?』
『You slide down with quite a bit of speed, so I suppose it might feel somewhat similar to when you glide on ice or move around in the sky.』

I see. That does sound quite fun.
I can move around freely on ice and in the sky, but since slopes can also go up and down, moving around might be more difficult.
So performing well despite the challenge would probably feel good, I think. I really want to try it, but since Ain said it might be impossible to do, I’ll give up on it for now.

Maybe I should try sliding down a snowy slope with Dance Princess like how I glide on ice.
I’ll try that later.
After all, Ain seems to have thought of another way to play.

『Ain, you thought of something else, right?』
『Right. It’s simple… or rather, it’s the first thing that comes to mind for most when speaking of playing in snow. I feel somewhat embarrassed to say it, but…』

Ain hesitated for a moment, but she still continued to explain.

『It’s to sculpt things with snow. May I have control for a short while?』
『Sure, no problem.』

Giving Ain control, she then crouched and began shaping snow into an oblong ball.
She’s not using a lot of strength, so it didn’t become dense like the one I made before; it’s firm but still fluffy.
It looked like thick bread or some kind of pastry, but then Ain put it on the ground and started looking around.

Ain’s gaze stopped as if she had found something, and she then procured two long leaves and two small red fruits.

Those came from a slightly tall plant, so Ain had to stand on her tiptoes to get them, which felt weirdly adorable to me. I know it’s my own body, and I could only see what Ain sees, but it still made my heart warm.

Achieving her objective, Ain affixed the leaves and fruits to the oblong ball she made.
The two leaves were stuck on top of it, while the red fruits were in front.
The resulting thing, while simple in detail, looked like a rabbit. It’s lacking a horn, though.

Up until now, I only saw rabbits as a source of meat and fur, but looking at this, I suppose they can be quite adorable.
How do I describe it? It’s like a spirit.

『Is this perhaps a rabbit?』
『Um, yes, it’s a snow rabbit.』
『Pretty straightforward. But it is adorable.』
『And so, shaping things like so is one way of playing with snow.
Another is, let’s see…』

Ain moved the finished snow rabbit aside, and this time she began squeezing snow between her hands.
After molding it into a sphere, she placed it on the ground and started rolling it.
Rolling the snowball, it became bigger in size.

Ain continues to roll it. She slightly changes the rolling direction, keeping it nicely spherical.
I see. The snow on the ground sticks when it comes into contact with the rolling snowball, making it larger. That much I can tell.
Still, seeing the ball grow larger the more it’s rolled is really interesting for some reason, and I’m curious about how big it can get.

『Would you like to try?』

Perhaps noticing my interest, Ain said that, and I accepted her offer.
I rolled, rolled, and rolled the snow until it was half as tall as I am, but then Ain told me to stop.
It’s gotten quite large, but it only used a very small portion of the snow piled up on the plaza.
The area is still completely blanketed in white.

『Why did you stop me, Ain?』
『While you can continue making it bigger, could you instead make another one… one slightly smaller than this?』
『Just make another one, right?』

Since Ain requested it, this time I made one from scratch.
Shaping a snowball, I rolled it on the ground, making it bigger and bigger.
While I was doing this, spirits gathered next to me and cheerfully began to mimic what I was doing.

They compared their snowball with mine and showed delight upon seeing theirs becoming bigger.
The snowball they made became taller than the small spirits; they’re happily putting effort into their whole bodies.
It was so fun looking at them that I got carried away and made my snowball slightly bigger than the previous one.

『Umm, Ain. I made it too big』
『That’s alright. This one being bigger won’t be a problem, you see.
Now please place the smaller one from before on top of this big one.』

Following Ain’s instructions, I placed the snowball on top.
It was pretty heavy, but the spirits helped me out, so I was able to carry it easily.
Even without their help, it would have been fine if I had used physical reinforcement, but having done it together with the spirits somehow made me feel happy.

And so, the two slightly different snow spheres are lined up vertically now.
I think it should be modeled after something like the snow rabbit, but that’s the best I can guess.

Aww, Ciel’s having fun-time with Ain and the spirits~

Today’s chapter is overall adorable. The girls having a thick scarf was cute enough; Ain on her tippy toes is an image now burned into my imagination. Cute.

Ain trying to explain things in a way Ciel understands is also cute, and so is Ciel’s thought process upon understanding it. One subtle detail I like is how Ciel commented on the snow rabbit not having a horn. Are there no hornless rabbits in this world? Curious.

And of course, the spirits joining in on the fun was pretty adorable. Maybe with their presence, they can even do some games that need a larger number of participants?

Now then, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Please feel free to comment. Stay healthy, stay safe, and have a nice day~!